"The central doctrine of Christianity, then, is not that God is a bastard. It is, in the words of the late Dominican theologian Herbert McCabe, that if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you."--Terry Eagleton

"It is impossible for me to say in my book one word about all that music has meant in my life. How then can I hope to be understood?--Ludwig Wittgenstein

“The opposite of poverty is not wealth; the opposite of poverty is justice."--Bryan Stevenson

*the college where I teach is putting on the musical, I couldn't resist....

The sad truth about Trump is that he is dangerous only because he is so ineffectual.

Like all bullies, Trump doesn't want to be responsible for his actions. He's all bluster, and it's all bluff. He doesn't want to fight, he wants to scare you away from the fight. He won't fight with Congress to get the border wall built, he'll just complain on Twitter about it. He doesn't want to be responsible for firing Mueller, so he'll just whine endlessly about how unfair Mueller is. He certainly doesn't want to be responsible for starting even a minor war, much less a conflagration with Russia or even North Korea, so now after responding to Russia's Ambassador to Lebanon in a tweet:

Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and “smart!” You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!

Our relationship with Russia is worse now than it has ever been, and that includes the Cold War. There is no reason for this. Russia needs us to help with their economy, something that would be very easy to do, and we need all nations to work together. Stop the arms race?

Much of the bad blood with Russia is caused by the Fake & Corrupt Russia Investigation, headed up by the all Democrat loyalists, or people that worked for Obama. Mueller is most conflicted of all (except Rosenstein who signed FISA & Comey letter). No Collusion, so they go crazy!

Never said when an attack on Syria would take place. Could be very soon or not so soon at all! In any event, the United States, under my Administration, has done a great job of ridding the region of ISIS. Where is our “Thank you America?”

I have agreed with the historically cooperative, disciplined approach that we have engaged in with Robert Mueller (Unlike the Clintons!). I have full confidence in Ty Cobb, my Special Counsel, and have been fully advised throughout each phase of this process.

... Trump “likes to blue-sky a lot.” That is to say, he was just spouting off and it probably means nothing. But it’s just one more example of the toll of a militantly ignorant President.

Trump is militantly ignorant. But the reason he likes to "blue sky" is because the only outcome he's interested in is the one where Trump gets the credit. He's terrified of being held responsible for doing what he wants to do when he wants to do it, so he's terrified of actually doing anything but also of appearing weak. The way to resolve this conflicted desire is to talk loudly and never really do anything but get in front of the parade and strut. He certainly doesn't want to be held responsible for anything, ever. That's what he used to pay Michael Cohen to pay off to make go away: responsibility. So what decisive action will he ever take? Only the action that decisively keeps him from being responsible for the decision and its consequences; all he wants is the praise from people after it's done and the dust has settled. After all, "where is our 'Thank you, America'?"

Anything that doesn't leave him looking for that is not a deal he wants to be involved in.